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A platform will be implemented to manage procedures and services
Imcine works on consolidating strategies to promote Mexican cinema
February 06, 2018The Mexican Institute of Cinematography (Imcine, for its acronym in Spanish) will seek the consolidation of the programs created in the present administration for 2018 to encourage the production, distribution and film exhibition inside and outside Mexico in three areas: the digital platforms FilminLatino and Cinema México Digital, the Mexican Film Week in your city, and the National Network of Audiovisual Poles.
The head of the Imcine, Jorge Sánchez Sosa, said in an interview that the agency attached to the Department of Culture of the Federal Government will continue to provide support through its different programs and calls, including the National Competition for Short Film Projects, Foprocine, Eficine and Fidecine.
He said that Imcine has included in its programs the Support to the Production of Series and Miniseries, for which 30 million pesos are allocated, and which intends to be the continuation of the call for support for writing and development of series and mini-series.
“We have the traditional calls, to call it in some way, to stimulate creators, ranging from writing an argument to developing a project in the field of production. Eficine, which is the trust that aims to promote cinema with a commercial vision, can contribute up to 50 percent of a production”.
He stressed that Foprocine, also a call for production, focused on an auteur cinema, can contribute up to 80 percent of the production cost, while Eficine 189 will have 700 million pesos this year, when its budget was $500 million pesos five years ago.
“Eficine has one of the most generous fiscal stimulus mechanisms in the world. Annually, two calls are launched and of those 700 million pesos, 650 go to production and 50 to domestic distribution of Mexican cinema”.
Jorge Sánchez also highlighted the encouragement of the production, distribution and exhibition of Gabriel García Márquez documentary films for the Cinematographic Creation in Mexico and Central America 2016-2017, which invites indigenous and Afro-descendant filmmakers from Mexico and Central America to present projects that promote not only interest and reflection on the right to equality and non-discrimination, but also make visible both the social obstacles that these presuppose as the cases of citizen participation generated within the communities.
Regarding the digital platforms, we seek the consolidation of Cinema Mexico Digital, which reaches nearly 800 reception points in the country, most of these are public libraries; and also Filmin Latino.
“These, along with other measures, try to solve problems of many years ago in Mexican cinema: distribution and exhibition. It is vitally important to reach the audience, there is not a single Mexican audience, there are many Mexican audiences, with different economic, cultural and educational characteristics that is why we have focused on the creation of digital platforms”.
Sánchez described Cinema Mexico Digital as an interesting system, a repository of Mexican movies, series and programs, whose basic content is made up of movies in which the Imcine has participated for many years ago.
"Cinema is very noble, attractive and inexpensive. As the digital world now exists and we decide to enter it, a change made by this administration, we have the possibility of receiving a movie from the repositories we have”.
About Filmin Latino, a platform with two years of existence and nearly 1,500 titles of which mostly are Mexican, it has a national coverage with the best of the world cinema. It allows us to watch movies that are recognized at international festivals or that are part of what the world film canon would be, said Sánchez.
“It is a video on demand and transactional system with a very cheap and competitive subscription compared to what the platforms are because in Mexico they are currently on a commercial level. I don't think there is a similar platform in Latin America and I have no doubt that it will also provide better filmmakers, since filmmakers make themselves by watching and making movies, to watch movies is what turns their heads and modifies or guides their thought or creativity”.
With the aim of bringing cinema closer to citizens, in 2018 Imcine will continue to implement alternative exhibition strategies such as the Mexican Film Week in your city.
“This project, which has been implemented for the past three years, is being carried out in cities in the 32 states of the country because that is where the problem of distribution of Mexican cinema becomes more acute and gives us the opportunity to meet with an audience interested in Mexican cinema, its creative processes. In this sense, what we do is that directors, actors, actresses and scriptwriters attend the screening”.
Jorge Sanchez said that in addition to the screenings, the "Weeks" are accompanied by digitized exhibitions, so that you can see the Mexican film posters of the fighters, for example.
“As soon as we send a digitized version, the institute or state secretariat decides on what it prints it, what quality, size, where it will be installed”.
Another strategy, he said, is the National Network of Audiovisual Poles, a space where those interested in the production and exhibition of audiovisual content will have access to training workshops, in addition to producing audiovisual content.
The two-year project aims to strengthen the promotion of film culture through the creation of spaces to promote the creation and exhibition of Mexican cinema, as well as the formation of audiences throughout the country, in addition to supporting the activity of community audiovisual production and promoting the cultural exhibition circuits already established.
Through the National Network of Audiovisual Poles, in which the cultural secretaries of the 32 states of the Mexican Republic participate, we promote the production of content that expresses the identity of the communities and regions that make it up, as well as the life stories that are significant in those spaces.
The contents are known, first of all, by the community itself, through the exchange on the Net, and later by all the participants at national level, in addition to being accessible through the Internet.
Concerning the presence of Mexican cinema at international festivals, the film producer said it varies and grows. "The festival phenomenon is spreading all over the world. In Mexico we have 120 film festivals”.
“Our structure what it does is to promote in festivals the last thing that is being done in Mexican cinema. Last year we had 103 international festival awards. Mexico participates between 8 and 10 international festivals per year and Imcine supports Mexicans who are there, in relation to having a booth where they can have their appointments and meet potential co-producers”.
“International festivals are generally accompanied by a market where it is bought and sold, and that is what makes it possible for a movie to reach a country. It requires a sales agent and a distributor to take the risk of buying the movie to show it and try to obtain the best possible economic benefits, not only for him, but also for the producing entities," added Jorge Sánchez.
The official said he will continue with the activities related to the agreements signed between the Department of Culture with the Secretariat of the Navy and the Department of National Defense.
“2018 looks very good for the national cinema, this shows that we have three movies in the top ten of spectators in January, it is a time when both digital platforms and other activities that we develop to have a presence at a national level will bear fruit”.
“This is the moment when the policies that we have promoted with the Secretariats of Culture in each of the states will have a much more solid functioning”.
Other actions that Imcine will have in 2018, is to propose strategies through Fidecine (Fund for Investment and Film Incentives) to promote the distribution and exhibition of Mexican cinema in the national and international market: 1. Support to Mexican movies with a distribution contract abroad; 2. Support to Mexican movies awarded as Best Film and/or Best Director at the Cannes, Berlin and Venice Festivals for their national distribution; and 3. Support to Mexican movies that officially represents the national cinematography in search of its Oscar nomination, for promotion and positioning.
Through the Cine en tu Escuela (Cinema in your School) program, we will look for the formation of audiences with the approach of cinema to basic and secondary education students, this in collaboration with the platform Aprende 2.0 of the Department of Public Education, for this reason we will offer screenings of Mexican short films from a specialized curatorship with contents and topics of interest.
Also, in 2018 a digital platform will be implemented to manage the corresponding procedures and services requested from users to apply for the different calls that Imcine launches throughout the year. This will make the programs more accessible to users speeding up and making the administrative procedures more transparent.
Mexico,Distrito Federal
